What are the changes after the deactivation of Siscoserv? Learn more about in this post.

The deactivation of Siscoserv (System of Integrated Foreign Trade of Services, Intangibles and Other Operations that Produce Assets Variations) was announced in August 2020. The deactivation caused an impact on the companies that used to access the system in order to collect data regarding foreign trade of services.

The system was used to register the operations performed by Brazilian companies with others based abroad. The transaction of goods was an exception, once they were registered into Siscomex, instead of Siscoserv. So as to understand better the impacts of this definitive deactivation, we have interviewed Lisandro Vieira – CEO of WTM do Brasil.

Keep reading to learn more about this subject!

Siscoserv was suspended or discontinued?

That is a usual point of confusion among users. In fact, the system was discontinued. The disconnection from the server occurred in July (2020), and was determined by SECINT (Secretary of Foreign Trade and International Matters), together with the Receita Federal (equivalent to Internal Revenue Service in USA). The deactivation took place after the evaluation of the model of collection of data concerning the foreign trade was completed. However, Siscoserv has been suspended since July.

The Government, in a joint statement, informed that the deactivation was part of the facilitation and improvement measures for the benefit of business environment. Vieira explained that: “since July, Siscoserv website was inaccessible. This means, in practice, that it is already possible to observe many changes for the companies. After all, they cannot do any input via Siscoserv anymore”.  

As an explanation for its definitive deactivation, the CEO indicates a cut in expenses, which is possibly the main target. “Although the intention was to convey a better planned transition, the Government needed to accelerate the simplification measures due to cash contingency”, said Vieira.

How do obligations stand?

In general, it is possible to list some points about how the companies’ obligations stand at the discontinuation of Siscoserv. They were mentioned in the Economy Ministry’s joint statement:

• the intention is to avoid prejudices to the publication of statistics about payments and tax oversight balance;
• Information regarding the currency exchange contracts, imports and exports for the evaluation and elaboration of public policies will be based on the data that is already informed to the Government via other accessory obligations:

Vieira, in this sense, outlines some interesting insights. “After Government’s joint statement, some companies went on investigating which would be the accessory obligations to comply with”, he explains. As so, they concluded that, besides declaring some operations at Siscoserv, they would also have to declare accessory obligations which, in practice, they are in default.

The CEO said that the organizations we not aware of the necessity to meet some of other accessory obligations concerning the efficiency and compliance of the process.  He points to a possible reason for this fact: “it happened because credit card is the most usual method of payment of expenses incurred abroad, as well payments via agents or third parties.”

Besides the fact that informing details of what has been paid abroad via agents or by a company that uses several credit cards is not a usual practice, the accountants do not always have the credit card statements available in every operation, neither a breakdown of what has been paid via third parties.”

He concludes: “Because of the usual confusing interpretations, many companies could be, in future, penalized. And the fine for failing to comply with these other accessory obligations is higher than the ones applied by Siscoserv.”

On March 8^th., 2020, the Government agencies that control the system issued an ordinance that revoked the normative acts that implemented Siscoserv. This tends to calm down a little the professionals in respect of the penalties involving the Siscoserv.

In a new statement, the Economy Ministry has once more stressed that the information needed for statistics and oversight purpose will be based on “data already presented to the Federal Government by means of currency exchange contracts and other accessory tax obligations.”

What are the impacts caused by the deactivation of Siscoserv?

Although the Government indicates that there will be no negative effect from the Siscoserv termination, Viera makes some remarks about its definitive cancellation. “In terms of oversight and taxations, the impact will be of minor importance. On the other hand, in terms of statistics, the effect will be a little higher’, he considers. 

He explains the reasons: “Before the creation of Siscoserv in 2012, some service providers did not figure in the statistics.”

However, Vieira does not points out only the impacts on the companies. According to him, the country will also suffer some effects. “The biggest impact for Brasil is a temporary loss of perception of the private initiative activities of more than 30 thousand companies. In the 8 years of Siscoserv, they got used to report to the Government, in an organized manner, the details of their operations of imports and exports of goods and services”, he said.

Vieira concludes saying that he reckons the need of simplifying the foreign services data collection process. Nevertheless, he believes that this matter should have been debated with the private initiative. A debate could have produced solutions to optimize costs, as well as to modernize, integrate or even cause the system to evolve towards other tools.

How will the data collection for statistics purposes be done?

According to Vieira, the expectation is that the Government promotes an integration. Furthermore, an interchange of data between Receita Federal and SECINT will be carried out. This integration will be implemented to partially supply the information that was previously inputted into Siscoserv.

In addition, we can rely on the Economy Ministry website. It provides a rich, reliable and complete source of information about the Brazilian commercial transactions. Despite not in the same format of Siscoserv, it shows export data and current laws that may interest the companies. You just need to access the “Estatistica de Comércio Exterior e de Serviços” (Foreign Trade and Services Statistics) page to get them. 

As for the companies, it is recommendable to have their data registered internally. If the Government requests them for other accessory obligations, they will be easily available.

Which technologic solutions may be adopted after the Siscoserv deactivation?

There are several software solutions and innovations to automatize collection and internal registry of data of the companies. Adopting technologic solutions that facilitate the process whilst respecting the accessory obligations fulfillment, such as the electronic documentation, provides an enhancement to the business environment and adds value. It is also possible to count on a port intelligence of good quality.

Therefore, keep on seeking solutions that best suits your company’s specifications. Ultimately, it is necessary to bear in mind that, even though these are the latest information about the discontinuation of Siscoserv, the process is subject to updates and changes. So, it is necessary to follow up the developments.

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